I’m a China Mieville / Iain Banks kinda guy. Had a hard time finding anything much new that’s actually impressed me in a long time (Luna: new moon was great, and CD loved that, so our tastes can’t be too far apart). Halfway through the 3-body problem right now. Can’t say it’s blowing me away but it seems to be slowly improving despite the lack of style in the writing. Haven’t given up on it at least but it’s a slog.

One of Publishers Weekly's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Year Critically acclaimed author Kai Ashante Wilson makes his commercial debut with this striking, wondrous tale of gods and mo ...

Barsk eh? Looks promising. Done…on my kindle now. think i’m going to give 3 body another half hour then it’s barsk time. btw there’s no more M in the late, great Banks. He had decided to switch to just “Iain Banks” for all his novels.

btw there’s no more M in the late, great Banks. He switched to just IB for all his novels.

WTF man!

Barsk seems like it is a common enough kind of story with nothing exceptional going on but it was really wonderfully written. The Sorcerer of the Wilddeeps was just so unusual in how it was written and did things. I appreciate authors taking chances and doing something new. Barsk has been getting a lot of praise.

I’m trying to find where I’d read the interview where he’d decided to un-M the sci-fi series…pretty sure I didn’t dream it He’d decided he didn’t want to have an artificial distinction between his “literary” and “sci-fi” works.

Yep. Transition was published under the “M” in north America but without the “M” in UK. My understanding was that Hydrogen Sonata was to be the last “M” book. Can’t find the interview where I read that tho…

Kindled ATBIS, about 40 pages in (SLIGHT SPOILERS?). Struggling a little with the tone, it reads rather like a combination of a YA book/ absurdist/magical realist fantasy (talking animals), an ultra-soft sci-fi (kid builds time machine on his wrist from bit of radios, spaceships built in barns) / Hitchhikers Guide-style parody; so there is an issue with suspension of disbelief. Perhaps this is deliberate; sometimes throwing everything in a blender gives you a delicious beverage, sometimes you get something that resembles mud, sometimes you get something that resembles both. Not yet sure what the result will turn out to be, so onwards…